Dolores Anna "Rocky" Sarrocco
June 15, 1934 — March 12, 2016
Dolores Anna "Rocky" Sarrocco, 81, of Parma, Ohio, entered the gates of Heaven Saturday, March 12, 2016 in Residential Hospice of Southwest General Hospital in Strongsville, Ohio, following a recent illness.
Born in Ravenna, Ohio, on June 15, 1934, Dolores was the daughter of the late Medio and Mary (Fantini) Sarrocco.
After graduating from Ravenna High School in 1952, Dolores began working for the Ohio Department of Transportation in Ravenna. After a year, she packed up and moved to Long Beach, California. She worked for North American Rockwell before beginning a 31-year career at Continental Airlines as an executive assistant, working in Los Angeles, Denver and Cleveland. She always said that the travel perks were the best part of her job.
Dolores’ life can best be remembered by flipping through the pages of her passports. As an independent woman, Dolores spent her life traveling around the world, experiencing many cultures and lifestyles, having visited 50 countries on six continents. She always said Antarctica was too cold for her. Her vast collection of photographs, spanning numerous decades, are reminders of her travels, including her visit to a leper colony in Hawaii, walking along the Great Wall of China, attending the Calgary Stampede in Canada, celebrating Oktoberfest in Germany, visiting Cuba on a cultural exchange, and almost becoming lunch for two lions during a safari in Africa. She especially enjoyed the western Pacific area, having vacationed in Vietnam, Micronesia, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, and Palau at different times. Dolores was scheduled to take a 27-day trip to Turkey this May, then spend a few days meeting a nephew and his wife in Spain, before getting ill.
Dolores was active all her life, whether it be playing basketball, volleyball, roller skating, bike riding, working out at the gym or walking. When making time for herself and her family, Dolores loved to complete the New York Times crossword puzzles, read mystery novels and dote on her nieces, nephews and great-nephews. Always one to think of others, gifts for her family from her many trips included everything from gemstones from Rio de Janeiro to pearls from Japan to sweatshirts from New Zealand.
In addition to her parents, Dolores was preceded in death by her brother, Medio Sarrocco, Jr. She is survived by her sister Gloria (Harold) McKimmie of New Philadelphia, five nieces and nephews, Cindi (Ted) Knisely and Spencer McKimmie of New Philadelphia; Davene (Rick) Sarrocco-Smith of Streetsboro, Dean (Mara) Sarrocco of Sylmar, California, Damon (Cathy) Sarrocco of Akron; two great-nephews, Joseph Knisely of Cleveland and Alex Knisely of New Philadelphia; her step great-nephew Ricky Smith of Bismarck, North Dakota, and special cousin Lillian Baroni of Naperville, Illinois. Numerous other cousins complete her family.
A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Wednesday March 16, 2016 at 11:00 AM in Immaculate Conception Church in Ravenna. Monsignor Michael Cariglio will officiate. Burial will follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Ravenna. Family and friends are invited to call at Shorts Spicer Crislip Funeral Homes Ravenna Chapel from 9:00 Am until time of the funeral mass on Wednesday. The family requests that in lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to donor's favorite charity. Condolences and memories of Dolores may be shared with the family at www.sscfuneralhomes.com.